22 January 2013

It's sad, but two of my favourite magazines are priced well out of my budget. The informative Viewpoint never disappoints but retails for around €60. Less bank-busting is Eye magazine, which covers the wonder of graphic design in all its forms with unmatched flair. This is the current issue displaying elegance, grace and simplicity. I can't wait to grab a copy.

21 January 2013

Tide, Millennium and Disposable were the first works by Stuart Haygarth that I experienced in the flesh. Sitting in the Cassina showroom in Paris, these works clearly illustrated Stuart's knack to turn junk to gems in an elegant comment on waste. Created from the bottoms of plastic water bottles collected from London's Stansted Airport, Drop (pictured) is another prescient comment on disposable culture and the use of resources all wrapped in beauty. Simple, yet effective.

20 January 2013

My adoration of New Order began while pumping gas in a Sydney service station. The (still) fresh pulsating beat of Blue Monday blasted out of the radio, and that was it, I was hooked. They're back with Lost Sirens, which goes someway to recovering ground following their career low-point last album, Waiting For The Sirens Call. Lost Sirens kicks off well enough with the Brotherhood-ish I'll Stay With You. It segues into Raise The Pressure era Electronic — a Sumner and Marr band of which more will be heard — with Sugarcane, a pop track referencing Madonna's Vogue of all things. It's fun, and a Kylie vocal would have been a masterful touch. Trademark New Order melancholy follows with Recoil, Californian Grass, Hellbent and Shake It Up (Twisted Tenderness era Electronic). All in all Lost Sirens isn't a bad effort, and Pitchfork's score of 6.8 is probably fair — though I think they were generous with 7.9 for Waiting For The Siren's Call. Word has it that New Order are set to record and electronic inspired album without Hooky, but with Gillian back in the band. For now Power, Corruption and Lies, Low-Life and Technique still reign supreme as New Order's best albums.

18 January 2013

After weeks of work, a new Wunderwall is almost ready to be unveiled in Dordrecht at SBK. Full details and a preview soon. As usual, music helped inspire creative tasks as much as it helped to get through hours of repetitive image preparation when the risk of RSI was high. This 1980s tinged playlist kept my motivation levels up.

14 January 2013

Good Art is in the Stedelijk Museum again this week, this time with Ed Kleinholz's astounding — I'd say awesome if it weren't such an overused word — The Beanery. Somehow I've missed Ed's work all these years, so it was curiosity alone that had me standing in a queue single file to experience the eery interior of The Beanery. A wait has never been worth so much. Surreal and prescient, Ed's 1930s bar provides a haunting experience, oddly enchanting, yet equally depressing. Standing inside I felt constricted; I sensed what it must feel like to be claustrophobic. Everything felt tight, every step carefully placed so as to not bump into the clock-faced people, in a bar where time stood still. The experience was enhanced by the fact that only one person could enter at a time. I left gasping for breath, excited by the prospect of a return visit.

13 January 2013

11 January 2013

If you're in Brisbane over the next couple of weeks, then be sure to check out In Place, Peter McLean's latest exhibition at the Brisbane Institute of Art. This is one of his drawings on black paper made from ground found animal bone.

10 January 2013

The mammoth Noah's Ark in Dordrecht is more a work of art than a museum, not to mention an intriguing and surreal experience. Its imposing facade conceals a maze of rooms and stairways spanning at least four levels. Inside, an array of life-size plastic animals make their home alongside live exotic birds, rabbits and ponies. Mannequins, seemingly unwanted by local retailers, are dressed as if at some hippie party, many in rave-like dance poses. It's rather amusing.

Noah (pictured) was rather odd too. He spoke Dutch with a thick American accent, and his attire seemed somewhat modern under his beard. Elsewhere, a voice on a nearby television screen lectured on Creationism, and how only an academic would be arrogant enough to not believe in it. Though the ark can hold 3,000 visitors, I counted just five people in one American family on the day I went, not including staff. The adventure was made all the more eerie with so few people around. I was startled by flying white doves at first, but soon felt at home with them. I felt sorry for the poor labrador who lived in the largest pen with a plastic mate. He seemed eager to get out following me from side to side behind his fence. I'd want to get out too, the stationery moose, mammoth, adders and casowaries gave me the heebie-jeebies. Other animals included dodo birds, komodo dragons, pigs, sea lions but only two dogs, as all dog breeds could be recreated using these specimans when back on dry land. It was a mind boggling experience, and I spent a surprising three hours on board.

It was snowing the day I visited, so I wound my visit up in the café eating a warming pea and ham soup with an Egyptian Queen and her dog. See Noah's Ark on Turnstile.

07 January 2013

Any work that stimulates debate and ignites passion must be a winner. In Man Kind,Marlene Dumas challenges how we perceive men in a complex comment on stereotypes, race, media, judgement and humanity. Inspiration came from newspaper photographs depicting men of middle eastern appearance with the image above indicating the discussion — it's taken from Marlene's book of the same name. Of all the works on show in the recently reopened Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, this piece garnered the most discussion with my fellow gallery visitors, both for and against. It's clever, and I continue to be a fan of Marlene's work.

03 January 2013

Procrastination set me off exploring the physicality of art production as a way to get out from behind a computer screen. The results are in, a self-portrait. I guess it's back to the now pressing digital deadlines and more pondering of what the future holds.